Card Check Compromise

January 16, 2009

Barack Obama told the Washington Post yesterday he might compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act because "there may be other ways to
achieve the same goal without angering businesses. And while many
Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager to see a quick vote on that bill,
he indicated no desire to rush into the contentious issue."

Is the administration going to slow-walk the Employee Free Choice
Act, or card check? President-Elect Obama told the Washington Post yesterday that
"while he favored the legislation, said there may be other ways to
achieve the same goal without angering businesses. And while many
Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager to see a quick vote on that bill,
he indicated no desire to rush into the contentious issue."

Is that even possible?

Card check is kind of an all or nothing proposition.

I'm not sure where he's getting this from. The point of card check is that union elections have become a joke. Employers hold captive propaganda meetings, and routinely violate labor law by intimidating workers and firing organizers with no serious enforcement. That's why unions want card check, an expedited way to let workers form a union without facing massive pressure from their bosses. But if there was some other way to let employees decide whether or not to form a union without massive employer pressure, unions would probably settle for that, too. Indeed, some kind of compromise tostop employer intimidation is what I expect to happen in the end. It's far from all or nothing.